The UK is to commit one of its Boeing E-3D Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to NATO as part of a wider ramping up of measures set to counter Russian military activity along the alliance's eastern flank.

The detachment, which was announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) at the end of April, will see one of the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) six E-3Ds seconded to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force for airborne surveillance duties over Eastern Europe.

NATO currently has 16 E-3s of its own, operated out of Geilenkirchen in Germany. This force has been heavily involved in reassurance measures following the crisis between Russia and the West over events in Ukraine, and in the tailored assurance measures for Turkey against the background of the Syrian crisis.